Chapter II: The Stuff On The Sides Of Ships

The Kirkwall docks bustle with activity in the daytime. Sailors and merchants' men lug an endless stream of wooden barrels and crates onto and off of their ships. The rats skitter around them, skinny urchins race around, and the sun beats down on all of them. The relief of a cool, salty wind whirls through the ships' sails, down the streets, and through Colton's blond hair as he sits atop a building overlooking the ocean. He tried watching from the docks many times, but the sailors are always quick to shoo him off; they wouldn't even let him sit on the pilings where he was out of their way. Tired of their gruff protestations, Colton retreated to find an inland place with a passable view of the water. When he realized all the buildings were in the way, he took to higher heights.

Addie had originally petitioned Colton not to clamber up the sides of buildings to sit on the rooftops, but Colton would not listen to her. Once Colton found something he enjoyed it was impossible to tear him away from it. So, Addie took a deep breath and climbed up after him. She comforted herself with the thought that he had actually learned how to climb from her. It used to be young Colton looking up at his sister, teary-eyed, begging her to lower herself from whatever precarious height she had finagled her way into. Now he was nearly a man and he was the one going where he shouldn't be.

Addie pulled herself up top. Colton chose this rooftop because it was the tallest one accessible. Addie was grateful it was flat, too. She sat beside her brother, who had his legs dangling over the edge and his weight leaned backwards onto his palms. His bronze eyes had a warm smoulder to them presently, and he regarded the oceanic expanse in front of him with with sober serenity. But Addie saw him chewing his lip like he always does when he's getting thoughtful, so she asked him, "What's on your mind?"

"Perhaps we can get work as sailors," Colton said. He turned to look at his sister only when she gave a sudden laugh. "What? Something funny?"

Addie giggled, "We can't be sailors, Colton. We've never even been on a ship." Her brother's brow knit together in that hard, crude way. He shook his head. "So? All sailors had to start somewhere. We can be deckhands, or something. Scrub the floor or scrape that stuff off the side—"

"See, you don't even know what it is."

"Oh, shut it!" Colton leaned forward, crossing his arms tightly and scowling at the landscape before them. "We need money, Addie. Working aboard a vessel's an honest way to get some."

Now Addie shook her head. "It's a good way to work yourself to the bone for naught. Do you want to be like our parents? Work yourself to death all your life so you can have nothing to show for it?" She had unintentionally taken on an accusatory edge to her voice. Colton's jaw tightened and rippled. She pressed on. "Shady and her people have work we can do. We'd be stupid not to take the opportunity."

For the first time in that conversation, they made eye contact. Colton looked to his sister with a gaze that made her recoil. "How could you, Addie?" he exclaimed. "Mother would never want that kind of life for us! She never— she would never resort to it."

Addie sighed, feeling a heavy weight settle on her back. Her lips sagged into a frown, but she forced herself to hold eye contact with her brother; she had to drive home her point somehow. "Colton, Mother wouldn't want us to be poor forever. Do you really want to live like she did? Die like she did?" No, Addie did not want to continue on their current course; over five years of scraping by how they did was too much for her. She was sick of spending days doing a combination of begging and odd jobs that paid next to nothing. She could only see this set-up getting worse with age. She was afraid adulthood would turn her and Colton to prostitution or barmaiding or something equally as horrifying. Colton went back to scowling silently. His eyes, which had regarded the blue ocean with adoration before, held only bitterness now. He understood his sister's point, though he wished he didn't; it would be easier to choose a path that way.

Addie pulled her legs up and got to her feet. Her head eclipsed the sun, and for a moment, Colton was in the shade. Addie bid her brother farewell, insisting on him meeting her at sunset so they could walk to the alienage together to discuss work with Shady. Colton said nothing but he begrudgingly gave a single nod of his head. Addie climbed back down.

A/N: Hope you enjoyed this. The plot starts to get a foothold in the next chapter :)